"This rose is not as pretty as you, but I tried finding something that can resemble your beauty." was the note attached to a bouquet of roses waiting for me in the company. I scoffed and put the note in my bag. It's so cheesy.. But it still made me smile. Funny enough, the only cheesy person I could think of is Himchan, but it can't be him. I wonder who left it for me..

"Another gift?" Sey asked.

"Yes."

"Those roses are pretty."

"They really are." I smiled. Whoever it is, he has a good taste.

"You still don't know who sent it?" she asked curiously.

"No.." I shook my head.

"Good luck finding him."

~

"What's up?" Yujin sat next to Jongup in the cafeteria.

"Hey Yujin." he smiled shyly. "Everything is great. How about you?"

"Not that good.." she pouted.

"What's wrong?" Jongup's smile disappeared from his face.

"Did you ever receive bad comments?"

"Of course I did. All of us have been through this.. You can't really avoid it in our job."

"Then how did you handle it?"

"I just worked harder to prove them wrong." Jongup smiled.

"What if I can't? No matter how much I try it's stays the same, like I never did anything. All my effort is going to waste."

"Look.." Jongup lifted Yujin's face gently so that she'll look at him. Yujin felt butterflies in her stomach, but she tried to ignore it. "Remember the first time you tried playing the guitar?"

"Yes. I didn't now what I was doing and it was really bad." Yujin smiled as the first time she tried to play came to her mind.

"How did you improve?"

"I practiced hard and took lessons until I was good at it. I still practice a lot in order to keep improving."

"See? That's the same with dancing or with any other thing you want to try. It may seem hopeless at first, but if you keep practicing you are going to improve, just like with the guitar. Just keep working hard and don't let people discourage you."

"How are you so smart?" the words left Yujin's mouth before she could stop them. Yujin blushed and Jongup chuckled.

"I'm not smart, I'm just experienced." Jongup smiled sheepishly.

"It will be alright as long as you have a goal in mind and you keep striding towards it." he squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Thank you."

~

"Sey, what's that on your back?" I asked when I noticed an ugly bruise decorating her lower back. What did she do to get that?

"What?" she asked in confusion and examined her back in the mirror.

"Oh, that.." she said when her eyes landed on the bruise I was looking at. "It just happened.."

"How?" I questioned. These kind of marks doesn't appear out of the blue.. It looks too deep for a random bruise.

"I was just doing things.." she said innocently.

"What kind of things?" I insisted.

"Things you will never do because you are a goody two shoes. You never get out of path and you'll never do something that is not innocent as you."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." she shrugged.

"Sey." I raised my voice. "Talk to me."

"I did some things with Himchan yesterday, that's why I have the bruise. But it doesn't hurt or anything and he did it because I asked him to." she said quickly.

"W.. What?" I tried to process what she just said. "What did you do?"

"Do I need to spell it out for you?" she started to get annoyed. "Some people do it in order to make their life more interesting."

"You are just gross." I commented when I realized what she meant. "And I don't want to hear about your life, thank you very much."

"You were the one asking!" she exclaimed. "And don't look at me like a weirdo.. Your precious Yongguk did those kind of things in the past as well."

"He is not mine." I corrected her. "And it's really not my business what he did in the past and with who. He doesn't owe me anything."

"If you say so.." she mumbled.

"By the way, you're still gross. Don't change the subject." I stuck my tongue out.

"I love you too." Sey said and hugged me.

"I know you do.. Everyone loves me." I stated and she smacked my head, both of us laughing.

~

"Yongguk.." Himchan entered the studio.

"What is it?" Yongguk stopped what he was doing so he could pay attention to Himchan.

"Did you apologize to Hyeri yet?" Himchan asked and Yongguk bit his lips.

"She doesn't want to talk to me."

"Then try harder."

"Do you think I'm not trying?" Yongguk exclaimed, annoyed. "There is nothing I want more than to make her mine again, but she doesn't want anything to do with me at the moment and I can't force her to come back to me."

"Well, you better find a way to fix it before it's too late."

"What do you mean?" Yongguk asked.

"I know Hyeri is crazy about you, but it can change if you hurt her too much. Besides, she is not going to stay single forever.. You know there are guys ogling her and just waiting for an opportunity to make a move on her."

"Why do you care so much?"

"Because even if Hyeri is annoying as hell most of the time, both of you are important to me and I hate seeing the two of you like this."

"Fine, I get it." Yongguk sighed. "I'll go apologize to her."

"Yongguk.."

"What?"

"Please don't tell Hyeri I said that about her, or she is going to make fun of me for the rest of my life." Himchan asked and Yongguk chuckled.

"That's not a bad idea.." Yongguk teased, pretending to consider it seriously.

"Bang Yongguk!" Himchan exclaimed.

"Alright, I won't tell her." Yongguk smiled. "It's not like I'll have the chance to anyway since she doesn't seem too excited to see me.."

"It will be fine."

~

"Hello, I'm Peppermint's Sumi, and I'm happy to introduce the first corner of our wednesday segment in 'Meet The Peppermints'!" Sumi exclaimed happily. "Every wednesday there is going to be a segment called 'Personal talent' and I'm the first one to participate in this corner." the staff watching clapped like there is an actual crowd watching.

"You must be curious as to what I'm going to do, right?" Sumi smiled.

"Well, as you all know, I love fashion a lot and lately I developed an interest in makeup, so I thought I should give you some of my beauty tips. In order to do that I want to ask the help of the person that needs it the most in my group, Hyeri." she said and I entered the frame, standing next to Sumi. When she asked me to help her I was suspicious but she insisted that it has to be me, so I agreed for the sake of our show.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Peppermint's Hyeri." I introduced myself and bowed. The staff clapped again, cheering, and I smiled. It makes me feel like it's a real show being filmed and not an online show segment that nobody wathces.

"Hyeri is a lazy girl who doesn't care about her look at all, as you can see from her appearance at the moment." Sumi said, smiling. I started to feel the anger boiling inside me, but I ignored it. There is nothing wrong with my clothes today, and even my hair looks pretty. I didn't have any makeup on because that was Sumi's orders, but other than that I look fine.

"Let's say Hyeri just got dumped by her boyfriend and her friends want to take her out partying so she could forget about him because she couldn't stop crying after she got dumped." Sumi presented an hypothetical situation which was mainly her whishful thinking about my situation with Yongguk. "I'm going to show Hyeri and you how to turn into a y vixen that will grab all the boys' attention using the right makeup."

"Well, you are an experienced vixen." I commented, smiling innocently. I can throw comments about her as well.

"Sit down." she ordered and I sat on a stool the staff prepared beforehand. They also prepared a long table with different kinds of makeup, makeup brushes and other necessary equipment for Sumi's corner.

"Alright. Hyeri has a big face that most guys wouldn't like. We can't do anything about that, but if we apply the right makeup we could create an illusion she has a smaller face and maybe then she could find someone that will actually want her." Sumi explained while her hands were pointing at different parts of my face during her explenation.

"There are guys who love girls with a big face." I stated. Why does she think she has the right to talk to me like that? I'm older than her, I'm in a higher position in the group and we are being filmed at the moment.

"Well, you know what the say.. Every pot has its lid, so there must be someone that likes girls like you." she smiled innocently.

"I didnt ask an advice about my love life."

"This segment is versatile, we can do both things." Sumi smirked. I took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. She is so annoying.

"Shall we start with the makeup?" I asked as politely as I could.

"Sure." Sumi said and took a washcloth from the table. She dipped it in a bowl filled with water and started dabbing my face slowly.

"It's important to clean your face before you start applying makeup on it. It's important especially for people like Hyeri, who has an oily skin. We want to get rid of the oil as much as possible."

"Oily skin in the worst kind of skin, but since I can do magic with makeup, I can turn even Hyeri into a princess." Sumi smiled brightly while dabbing my face one last time, at least for now.

"After cleaning the face, let's put moisturizer on it so our face won't get dry." she said while putting the washcloth and the bowl aside and grabbed a tube of moisturizer, showing it to the camera. "It's important to use one that fits your skin, or else it won't be efficient."

Sumi slowly opened the lid and put some moisturizer on her fingers. She slowly applied it on my face, doing it diligently. "You should blend it in, or else it just looks ugly and we don't want Hyeri to look even uglier than she already is, right?" she joked. She kept working, using more force than she had to. I might not be an expert in makeup, but I can tell when she is doing something on purpose. I tried to tolerate it, smiling like nothing happened. "It's also important to wait for the moisturizer to dry before we continue."

"Next step is the primer." Sumi said after putting the moisturizer away. She scanned the products on the table until her eyes landed on what she was looking for. "This thing" she showed it to the camera, "Helps your makeup last longer, and it can even blur small defects you have on your face or just things you want to hide."

"In Hyeri's case.." now she turned to me, "She can't hide her whole face, so we'll have to do what we can." she smiled innocently. I was really trying to stay composed and not get mad, but she is starting to get too much to handle. I'm trying to help her, I'm not here to be her punching bag. On a second thought, what was I expecting? I should have realized she is planning something vicious the moment she offered me to help her.. How could I fall into her trap so easily?

"We are going to take a small sponge or you can use your fingers to apply it. There are different kinds of primers for different effects. I chose one that can give you a glowing look since we are going to a party. But you should choose it wisely according to your skin type and it needs to suit the event you're attending."

"Now, while applying the primer, there are few things you need to remember. First, start from the center of the face and slowly go outside. Do it like this." Sumi said and started applying it on my face as she demonstrated how to apply it properly. "Don't apply too much of it because we are putting other things on top of it as well. Also, we are not applying it on the eyes because we have another primer espcially for that." she said and kept attending my face. Again, she used more force than necessary, but I was starting to get used to it. This is not what's going to break me. If she wants to test my boundries, I can tolerate more than that. I'm not going to give her the pleasure of seeing me losing my calm, especially not on broadcast.

"When we are done, we should wait a few moments before the next step. How about we talk while we wait?"

"Sure." I tried to smile. "How about we read comments?" I offered. It's better than talking to her.. Who knows what she'll ask or say.

"That's a good idea." Sumi agreed. She skimmed a few comments and tried to hide her discomfort when some of the comments complimented my looks and appearance. Someone even wrote he is watching this only because of me and I smiled to myself. I don't know who wrote it, but it serves her right.

"I think it's enough." Sumi said. "We can continue with your makeup. We should put the foundation on." she said and showed the product to the camera. "You can apply if with a foam sponge, a foundation brush or your fingers if you don't have the things I mentioned earlier. You should really choose the foundation that suits your skin type and skin color. Hyeri has an oily skin and she also has a really pale skin, so I'm using the foundation that fits her. If you're not sure if the color you chose fits, you can apply it on the jawline like this." she started applying the foundation on my jawline, using a sponge. "Blend it well and see if the colors blends well in the light. In Hyeri's case it fits, but if it didn't match the shade we would have to change it."

"Once you decided on the right shade you should apply it on a few spots on your face like the forehead, nose etc. and start blending it like I do."

"Hyeri looks like a panda because she has huge bags under her eyes, so if you want to hide it we need to use a concealer. Dab it lightly without putting too much pressure on it because it can remove the concealer." she explained as she demonstrated on my face. I have to admit she seem professional, even if she is throwing insults at me while doing it. At least she seem to find something that she is passionate about and that she is good at..

Sumi applied powder and a highlighter, not missing a chance to leave comments about my skin and my looks in the process.

"We're done with the basics, now it's time to take care of the eyes!" Sumi exclaimed happily. "Hyeri has a basic brown eyes that is nothing special and you can see a lot of it on the street."

"You have brown eyes as well." I reminded her.

"But my face are not common like yours. You honestly look like a commoner when you're not wearing any makeup."

"There is nothing wrong with looking like a commoner." I smiled. "Commoners can be pretty as well, and I prefer doing somehting useful with my time rather than spending hours on makeup. Whoever loves me will love me even without it. It's not like I'm wearing it 24\7, so he should know how my bare face looks like since that's what he is going to see most of the time."

"You really are innocent. No wonder you barely dated."

"It's not the quantity, it's the quality." I smirked.

"Should we talk about the quality, then?" she smirked as well.

"Don't you have to continue with the makeup?" I asked. The faster we finish the faster I'll be free from her mean comments.

"We should." she smiled. "First we apply an eyelid primer, just like we did earlier with the rest of the face." Sumi said and started demonstrating on me. "Close your eyes." she ordered and I obeyed.

"After the primer dried we should start putting an eyeshadow. We are going for smokey eyes so we need three different eyeshadows for it, but their color has to be close. It doesn't have to be black, although that's the color I'm going to use now. You start from applying the darkest shade on the edge and the color should be lighter as you get to the center of the eye and the higher parts. Hyeri has a small eyes, so there is really not much to cover, but I'm going to try."

"You should blend the different shades into one another every time you changed the shade so it won't look weird and too obvious." Sumi explained while working on my eyes.

"Now we are going to put an eyeliner, which is something a lot of girls struggle with." she said happily after she finished putting eyeshadows on both of my eyes. "I know it's much more difficult when you're trying to do it yourself, but I'm going to do it slowly so you'll be able to see. You draw it on your eyelid, above the lash line. You start from the corner of your eye and move towards the end, like this." she demonstarted on me. "If you want to achieve a more dramatic look, like we do in this case, you can continue the line a little. But don't overdo it because it won't look good."

"It's important to draw a straight line, but the only way to improve is practice. I'm going to do it again on the other eye so you can see it again." she said and attended me once more. "It's not that complicated, right?"

"We are almost done with the eyes. The only things we have left are the eye pencil on the lower eyelid and the mascara." Sumi said and searched the products on the table.

"Please look at the camera." she ordered when she was done. "Look how pretty Hyeri's eyes is right now!" Sumi exclaimed happily. "I'm proud of myself."

"Am I going to see the result at some point?" I asked curiously.

"When we'll finish evertyhing. We don't have much left to do." she smiled.

"I see.."

"Since Hyeri has a pale skin, I'm going to use a pale pink shade of blush because otherwise she'll look like a clown."

After applying blush and a lip gloss we were finally done. I ignored Sumi's comments about my lips being small, ugly and unkissable, pretending I didn't hear it.

"Look!" Sumi said excitedly and placed a mirror in front of my face so I could see the result. To my surprise, it actually looked good.

"So, what do you think?" she asked when I didn't react.

"It's pretty." I smiled. "Thank you."

"It was hard, but I tried my best." she shrugged. Does she has to be this annoying?

"I'm glad you like it." she added and my anger subsided a bit. "Let's read comments!"

~

The v-app finally ended. When I left the room I saw Yongguk waiting outside. Well, he is probably waiting for Sumi..

"Hyeri.." he called.

"Sumi is still inside, you can talk to her." I stated dryly.

"I want to talk to you."

"Do it fast because I have things to do." I sighed and I saw his face lit up. I guess he really wanted to talk to me.. But why?

"You look beautiful." Yongguk complimented after staring at me for several moments without saying anything. I felt self conscious under his intent gaze and moved my hands nervously.

"If you wanted to talk about that then I'm leaving."

"There is something else."

"What is it?" I asked, looking at his face. He looked tired and pale. Is Sumi not taking care of him? What the hell is she doing if they're dating?

"I'm sorry."

"About what?"

"For the sponsor thing.." he said quietly, embarrassed to say it out loud. "I know you don't have one.."

"Good for you." I said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, I should have known you'll never do that, but Sumi messed with my head.." he started explaining, but I cut him off before he could finish.

"It doesn't matter why you did it, the damage is already done. I guess it's my fault for giving you the impression I might have one.. I guess I was stupid enough to think that you know me from the short time we've known each other.. Sometimes you can't really know a person even after years." I struggled to stop the tears from falling. I can't ruin my makeup. Sumi worked hard on it.

"It's not your fault.." he mumbled. "I'm sorry."

"There is nothing to be sorry about." I said dryly, trying not to show any emotion. "You have the right to think whatever you want."

"I think I love you." Yongguk blurted out. He didn't mean to say it out loud, at least not at this point of their undefined relationship, but the words left his mouth on their own. I froze in my place, taken aback. What is he talking about?

A warm feeling took over my body, just like when he used to compliment me or hug me tightly, but my brain kept telling me it's wrong and that I should run away because he is lying. It's not like someone can actually love me.. Sumi is right.

"I don't know what love is and I don't have time to try and figure it out. Please stop wasting my time." I asked coldly and turned my back to him.

It took every self control I had to leave, because my heart kept telling me to run back, hug him and never let him go. He looked miserable and heartbroken, but I had to stay strong. He didn't really mean it, he just feels bad because he thought I had a sponsor and he is trying to make me feel better. I'm not falling in this trap. Even if I wanted to believe it's true, the cruel reality is that he can do better and he deserves better. I can't give him anything.

"Damn it." Yongguk cursed and punched the nearest wall. He didn't care if the wall started to break from the hit or if he was bleeding. It was the last thing he was interested in at the moment. He just want Hyeri. Is that too much to ask for?

In the restroom I allowed myself to break down. I do that a lot lately.. I'm getting weaker.

I didn't care about my makeup anymore, I was worried about my broken heart. Why does it hurt so much? And it just seem to hurt more as days go by.

"Well of course it hurts.. You didn't really think you'll be happy, right?" the voice appeared again, laughing like a madman.

"Shut up!" I ordered, covering my ears. Maybe this will block the noise..

"You shouldn't believe nice things people tell you.. They just want to use you."

"I'm not listening!" I declared loudly.

"Good luck with that." the voice snorted. "You can't avoid me, you should know that by now.. Aren't you supposed to be smart?"

"I am smart. That's why I'm not listening to you."

"Get a hold of yourself, Hyeri. It's nothing." I told myself, trying to get a grip. "You are not crazy, you are not hearing voices. There is no one here."

"I am here. I'm inside your head. You can't ignore me nor getting rid of me."

"Lalalalalalalala.." I started singing so I won't have to hear the voice.

"Cute." the voice chuckled. "Everyone does that at first. Until they learn to accept me."

"I'm not accepting something that doesn't exist."

"So why are you answering me?"

"Because you're annoying."

"It means you're acknowledging me."

"What do you want from me?" I sighed.

"Hyeri, is that you?" I could hear Eun Hee's voice and I was relieved.

"Y.. Yes.." I mumbled.

"Is everything alright? Who are you talking to?"

"I'm fine. I was just talking on the phone." I lied. What was I supposed to tell her? A voice inside my head bugged me? She'll think I'm crazy.

"Okay. We should leave soon."

"I get it. I'll be right there. Thanks."

~

"Come in." the CEO said when there was a knock on the door to his office. The door opened and Sumi stood there, frowning. The CEO sighed. It's not a good sign if she is frowning and he doesn't have the time or will to listen to her whining.

"Can I help you?" he asked politely.

"I want to talk."

"I have a meeting in ten minutes."

"I only need five minutes."

"Fine." the CEO sighed again, realizng he doesn't have a choice but to talk to her. "Have a seat."

"What show is Hyeri doing?" Sumi asked after sitting down.

"Something similar to 'Produce 101'."

"Why am I not doing it?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"They asked for Hyeri." he stated dryly.

"I want to be on it as well." Sumi declared.

"It's not my decision."

"Then make it your decision. You can tell them you will let Hyeri do it only if I join as well."

"Then both of you will be out."

"I don't care, I want to do it. Find a way."

"Hyeri is the only one participating in this show and that's final." the CEO said after taking a deep breah.

"Fine. I'm going to call daddy!" Sumi said as she stomped her feet on her way out.

~

"Himchan." Yongguk called, standing in the entrance to their room.

"What?" Himchan lifted his eyes from his phone.

"Let's go drinking." the older male stated and Himchan could feel something is wrong.

"What happened?" Himchan asked worriedly. Yes, Yongguk can drink a lot, but it doesn't mean he can't worry about him.

"I told her I love her.." Yongguk stopped and bit his lower lip. "And she ing left."

Author's Note:

It's not long like the previous chapters, but I still hope you'll enjoy it.

I'm sorry if there are a few inaccuracies in the makeup tutorial. I'm similar to Hyeri when it comes to that, so even if I did my research there might be some mistakes in it. I tried my best.

If you do find misktakes\inaccuracies - feel free to correct me.

Thanks for reading, commenting, subscribing, etc. <3

M.